Still windy – I guess that is what happens in August. We are off to Freshwater Bore this afternoon to see if we have any luck in bird spotting. A helicopter has arrived, landed, taken off and returned – they are doing a control spot burn off. These burn offs are constant with small patches everywhere so that plants can regenerate and it is a safety net to exclude a “hot” fire coming through and totally destroying the whole eco system.
Fire started, helicopter taking off – another view with fire underway.
Zebra finches arrive in large numbers continuously
I said that there were a lot of zebra finches, here is a group that were at the watering area. I went and had a look just in case there were some of the painted finches that I haven’t seen as yet. They all look the same.
Finally, I have managed to get a decent photo of the Red Capped Robin who is visiting the camping grounds twice a day. We saw the female at Suzie Lake, some distance away. She came in to investigate when I mimicked their call on the bird tweeter. Unlike the colourful male, she is mousey brown with a hint of light red on the head.
Hillside Drive to Freshwater Bore
This was a very pretty drive at the base of Home Range. We found the location where we walked to above the Gorge the other day.
Ghost Gums growing along the escarpment, really attractive with their white trunks.
These are Grevillea like, and continuously flower along the stem, you can see where previous flowering has occurred.
This is where we were on the escarpment the edge between both of these.
Both of these flowering gums looked the same, but some trees had red caps and the others cream caps but both the same flowers and leaves. Perfect May Gibbs Gumnut babies hats.
We have been told that this is the first time that they have used the helicopter with incendiary devices. It looks like a success.
We don’t know what the road will bring tomorrow as we have spoken with the Victorian couple from Mallacoota (Kieran & Rosemary) who drove around and didn’t come down the Tanami from Halls Creek because of it’s condition. The only problem with third hand information is that you don’t know from what time people are referring. We have decided to take the road and take longer if it is in as bad condition as they are saying. We had previously heard information on the Plenty Highway about how bad a road it was and when we drove it, it was great. So my theory is only to take the information if it is coming first hand, third hand could be referring to something from last year. We will soon know if we made the right decision.
We had drinks with Rosemary and Kieran this evening, and they are packing up and leaving tomorrow as well. It has been a great few days break here, seeing the area. The ranger said that it’s always windy here, so 5 days of hoping for a still day was a waste of time. :)
Rosemary and Kieran have given us some tips on good camping spots in WA.
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